Kasey
by CMCRD
Summary: When Severus pops the question to a rather surprised and drunk Hermione, she heads over to the Burrow for a bit of time to think. While there, she gets propositioned by another... interesting... suitor. Non HBP. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I own Severus Snape. I own Severus Snape. I own Severus Snape. Opens one eye Is it true? Nope. But I'll keep saying it to see if it'll work eventually. I own Severus Snape. I own..._

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_**Kasey**_

Chapter 1

Severus Snape stood, pacing his rooms, with a small velvet box clutched between his long, graceful fingers. Never in his life had he been so concerned about what to say. He had not even considered his groveling to the Dark Lord this carefully. But somehow, this felt more dangerous than anything with the Dark Lord ever had.

_We agreed that marriage would be far too public for the lifestyles that we both want... However..._ No. She'd hex his bits off, and he quite enjoyed his bits right where they were: attached to his body. Quite _useful _at times.

He continued pacing the floor of the room. Why was he so nervous? He'd been dating this girl for six years now, six _long _years. He'd more than likely seen everything she could do with her infuriating temper. What was the worst she could do? Leave him?

He had to admit that the thought actually terrified him. He knew she didn't realize the amount of power she held over him. She had quickly become the most important thing in his life, and she was always there. He'd wake up, and she was next to him, either asleep with her brown bushy locks tickling his nose, or staring at him and smiling sleepily. And he'd come to _need _her presence to wake up and have any form of patience for the rest of the day.

She was there at every meal, sitting next to him and chatting animatedly with whomever happened to be sitting next to her at the time about a variation of topics. She'd turn to him and give him a small smile, and he'd nearly smile back. Though, he had a reputation to uphold, and looking _nice _would ruin that.

After classes were over, she was in his chambers, flipping through the pages of a worn book and fully enthralled with the things that it said. There were times that she wouldn't realize he was there, and he could sneak up behind her, simply standing for a full minute, before he couldn't keep his hands off of her anymore, and he would brush her hair from her face, or kiss her neck, or remove the book from her hands, all of which would make her jump and hit him for "surprising her".

And they'd sit there, reading, or talking, or just staring at the fire and thinking. It was those moments that had made her presence easier to bear early one. She, too, could appreciate the beauty that came with silence.

Ironically, at that very moment, she chose to break the silence that had fallen over their chambers as he had ceased pacing, lost in thought. She walked into the room happily, a bounce in her step that told him she had bought a good book that she could not wait to read.

"Severus!" she smiled at him, setting the cloth tote back down beside the chair and sitting down. "You'll never guess who I ran into at Diagon Alley!"

"Hermione—"

She evidently didn't hear him, continuing on as if he'd said nothing. "Luna Longbottom! Can you believe it? Six months pregnant and wandering around Diagon Alley looking for something to keep Lorkiks away. Apparently they sneak into your ears and make it so your baby gets into Slytherin at Hogwarts. A conspiracy, you know."

"Hermione—"

"And so we went to the Leaky Cauldron and had a few drinks. Or,well, she made _me _have a few drinks. She sat there sipping gilly water and smiling at me."

"Hermione—"

"And then we went to Madame Malkin's and got some maternity robes for her and some random thing for me that I'll show you later. I think you'll appreciate—"

"HERMIONE!"

Hermione stopped, looking up at Severus, and he could see that the 'few' drinks she'd had with Luna had made her slightly tipsy. "Yes Severus?"

Suddenly, her eyes were on him and he realized that he still had no clue what it was that he wanted to say. "Thank you for ceasing that infernal chatter," he began, stalling for time. "I've been thinking a good deal lately..."

"Oh Merlin," Hermione said with a smile.

"Yes. And I remember that we agreed that marriage was not in the making for us—"

Hermione giggled. "Mhmm." Merlin, she _was _drunk. But he had fought to get the nerve to do this, and he wasn't about to back down now.

"But we're both a little older and, at least in my case, slightly wiser. So, I thought that maybe..." He opened his hand and the box sat on the palm. He cracked the case opened and walked over to her, sitting on the couch next to her. She stared at the ring for a moment before her face turned red and she jumped up.

"Holy Mother of God!" she screamed, and Severus cursed inwardly. She reverted to Muggle phrases like some people reverted to a mother tongue. Meaning that she was very, very surprised and possibly very, very angry. Uncomfortably, she shifted and looked at him, "Severus, we said..." She trailed off, clutching her stomach.

She rushed away from him, heading for the bathroom attached to their chambers, she threw the door open and slammed it behind herself. Severus made to follow, grabbing the doorknob only to find heavy wards on it. "Hermione!"

He could hear the sound of her retching into the toilet. "S-Severus! G-go away." Her voice was weak and queasy, and he pinched the bridge of his nose quietly.

"Come out here and we'll talk about this rationally." He heard another round of vomit hit the water and winced. "Please?"

The only answer he got was a whispered spell, and then the password that activated the portkey. Her voice floated in from the locked room. "5-4-3—"

"Hermione, that portkey's only for emergencies!"

"This is an emergency! One!"

And the wards lifted from the bathroom and when he threw the door open, the only sign that his lover had even been there was the swirling of the toilet as it flushed the contents of her stomach down the drain.

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_A/N: I know you can't tell from this chapter, but this is a Romance/humor story. I'm not good with humor stories, I'm not going to lie. I'm more of a straight romance or a romance/drama/action/adventure type. So making people laugh is not my talent. But this came to me last night when I was half asleep, and I liked it. The humor starts soon, I hope. _

_Yes, I am truly dumb to take on a third story, with plans in the works for a fourth. This'll be short, with short chapters. _

_But I still would like five reviews before I post the next chapter, okay? _


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: _

_Me: Do I own it?_

_Severus: No._

_Me: Can I pretend I own it?_

_Severus: No._

_Me: I'll make it worth your while... ::Winks seductively.::_

_Severus: Get away from me you idiot girl before I take your fate into my own hand. And I am not a very _nice _master._

_Me: That's okay. ::Wiggles eyebrows::  
_

_Severus: Crucio._

_Me; Writhes in pain Fine! I don't own it._

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_**Kasey**_

Chapter 2

Hermione felt the familiar pull behind her naval and sighed in relief. Severus had to go and throw her a curve ball, didn't he? After six years, the last thing she expected was a proposal from his mouth, especially while she was drunk. She had thought they were quite comfortable, living together. What made him want marriage _now_? After all that time, what made him shake her up this way with a proposal?

As her feet hit the ground right outside the gates of Hogwarts, she wasted no time in Apparating over to the Burrow. The comfortable house had often been her safe place whenever she had fought with Severus. Molly loved having anyone over to mother anymore, and ever since the death of her mother, she appreciated the gesture.

As soon as she got to the doorstep, however, Hermione stepped back in shock. She'd forgotten that Molly had mentioned to her that she had the grandkids over this weekend... _all _of the grandkids. In the past few years, the Weasley family had exploded to more than triple its previous size, and Molly and Arthur were currently the proud grandparents of fifteen children, with two more on the way. Never satisfied with just having _her _family to fuss over, however, Molly had begun to fuss over Luna and Neville as well, and delighted in the fact that their baby was due soon too.

The house appeared to have exploded with children. There were children in the backyard, children running around the path to the door, and children in the window. Raising her hand hesitantly to knock on the door, she jumped back in surprise when the door swung open as soon as the noise was made. "Hermione!" Molly's voice exclaimed, and she was enveloped in a hug before she even had time to react. Molly pulled her inside and shut the door, turning to smile at her 'daughter'.

"What's the matter, dear? Another fight?" Molly ushered her toward the kitchen and pushed her into a seat, piling a plate full of food without even glancing at Hermione's face for a rejection.

Hermione, out of habit, began to eat the delicious treats without thinking. It seemed that the portkey trip had settled her stomach and sobered her up a little bit, because she no longer felt much like lauging or puking. "He proposed."

"Oh, that's great honey!" Molly began, and then her attitude deflated a little upon seeing the dark look on the young girl's face. "Not great?"

"No. Not great. We agreed that marriage was _not _what we wanted, Molly. I was perfectly happy with the way things were."

"Maybe he wasn't."

Hermione sighed and set her fork down. "But why not? He knows I love him. Isn't that enough?"

Molly cast a few cleaning spells around the kitchen. "Why don't you want to marry him?"

Hermione stood up and looked out the window where Arthur had a group of children enthralled in a game of muggle football. He appeared to have gotten the rules all wrong, since he had the ball gathered up in his arms and was currently running down the field toward the goal.

"It's not that I don't want to marry _him,_ Molly. I don't want to marry at all. It's just not what I've planned for my life. Marriage is so... final."

Molly joined her at the window, smiling at her husband as he threw the ball in the goal and his team began cheering and dancing wildly. "You're not sure you want to be with him forever?"

"Oh, no. I know I do. It's just... I don't know. What if he decides he wants a family and I don't? Or vice versa. Those things seem so much simpler when we're not married. And, think about how we solve our problems. We fight, I leave, he comes over, we break up, and then ten minutes later we apparate back home and... make up." Hermione was slightly uncomfortable talking about sex with her best friend's mother, no matter how often she came here to hide.

"Sweetie, you two are practically married already. All you need is the ceremony. You may as well have changed your name already. Being married isn't going to change you two."

"Then why does he want it? Why can't he be happy with just me?"

"I don't know, Hermione. That's something you're going to have to ask him. Now, since you're here, there's no reason for you not to stay for dinner, you hear? You can help me by gathering the troops and then washing up. You're going to earn your keep around her." Molly smiled and gave Hermione a tender hug, and then swatted her toward the backyard. "Go!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled open the door, watching as one of the kids threw the ball at another one, bouncing it off their heads. "Hermione!" Arthur yelled, blowing the whistle around his neck and putting the game on hold. "What are you doing here? Another fight?"

"Long story Arthur. What are you guys doing?"

"Football!" Arthur's face shone with pride, and Hermione didn't have the heart to tell him that what the were playing was decidedly _not _football. Shaking her head, she hugged Arthur and looked out at the group of children staring at her.

"You've got quite a clan here, Arthur. What will you do with all of them?"

Arthur shook his head. "I have no clue. There's more inside, and a couple in the front yard with one of the house-elves. Only, you can't tell the difference between the short kids and the house-elves anymore." He wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Don't tell me all of these are yours!"

Arthur laughed and shook his head. "No. Molly had the bright idea that we could make the weekend a party. These are our grandchildren, a few of the Bones children, a few of Molly's friends' grandchildren, and there's a couple that I'm not even quite sure _who _they are. I think some of them are neighborhood children. Only about half of them are ours."

"You guys are _crazy_." Hermione laughed.

Arthur nodded. "You know, Molly keeps raving about how she can't wait until one of these little things will be yours. She's already talking about where the library will go in the house." He looked at Hermione as if weighing her reaction, which she had no doubt he actually was.

Hermione laughed. "She's got a while to wait, I'll tell you that." Arthur just shook his head at her, and she decided to change the subject. "Molly said to gather up, that dinner's ready."

Arthur nodded. "The tables are set up out back. We're going to have enough problems finding enough drawers to stuff these children into, let alone packing them into that kitchen."

Hermione shook her head at him again. "I told you. Crazy."

He only wrapped his arms around her again and then turned to get the children together.

Dinner was a chaotic affair. After searching every room for children, and a headcount to make sure that at least _most _of them were there, Molly brought out the masses of food and set them on the table. Hermione watched it go quickly, and some of the younger children needed some help. Hermione felt like the food lasted all of five minutes before it was gone and conversation started, with screaming from some ends of the table as one child pulled the hair of another and Ron and Lavender's oldest child stood up to wave at her. Shaking her head at the antics, she headed to his end of the table.

"Hello, Billy," she said, reaching out to tweek his nose. The five-year-old smiled.

"Mione!" He thrust his arms out for a hug, and Hermione complied, before noticing that at least eight other pairs of arms followed, and by the time she was finished hugging children, she swore that she didn't know half of them.

"Are you being good."

Billy nodded, them paused and shook his head. "Nope."

"Well, be nice to Grandmum Molly, okay? She's got a lot to do."

Billy smiled. "What about Grandpa Arthur?"

Hermione leaned in close to him as if whispering a secret into his ear. "Tickle him once for me, okay?" Billy nodded his head so hard Hermione thought it was going to fall of, before pointing to the boy next to him.

"He's quiet."

Hermione looked at the little blond boy questioningly for a second. He _hadn't_ said a word. "Yes he is." She moved over the two inches it took before she was right in front of him. "What's your name, sweetie?"

The boy looked at her questioningly, before opening his mouth wider than was totally necessary. "Kasey," he told her matter-of-factly, with a drawl that she recognized from somewhere before. She looked into his deep blue eyes.

"Kasey what?"

The boy fidgeted uncomfortably. "Um..." he tugged at a lock of his hair and pulled at his robes before answering. "Malfoy."

Hermione stood up quickly. "I'll be right back..." _What was Draco's son doing here? _She was sure that Arthur would have mentioned that. Draco had sworn neutrality in the war after his father tried to push him into the Dark Lord's circle. He had fought in the final battle against the Death Eaters, but denied it venomously and had basically become a hermit in the years since then.

The boy stood up. "No! Don't send me home! Please? Daddy never likes to play, and Mommy's sick!"

Hermione looked down at him sadly. His mother, a pretty muggle woman, was possibly the sweetest thing to have ever entered Draco's life. She'd heard that the young girl was ill, and knew that it must be tearing Draco up in side. "Do they know you're here, Kasey?"

Kasey looked away. "No. But... can I stay please? I'll be good! I won't even tickle Mr. Weasley! And I'll clean up after myself like Daddy tells me to do when I'm a guest! And... and I'll have Daddy pay Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back. He says they're in a rough spot and can't afford to have all of these rugrats running around. I'll member everything I eat and use and Daddy'll know how much it costs. I'll pay them back even if it has to come from my own piggy bank!"

Hermione looked at the boy sadly. She could see that all he wanted was some friends, and she felt a stab of pity flow through her, remembering her own lonely childhood. She put out her hand. "Come on, Kasey, we're going to go talk to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, okay?"

Kasey nodded and took her hand, looking up at her in fear.

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_A/N: Chapter 2 is done! Phew. Okay, so, still not all that funny... but it will get funny soon, I promise. (I hope.) _

_Five reviews for chapter 3? I'm not above bribing, as you can tell._


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: If it were mine, Severus would be faaarr too busy to be dealing with Voldemort. Trust me. Winks_

_**Kasey**_

Chapter 3

Arthur and Molly had been very good with the young Malfoy boy, telling him that he was welcome to stay. They did, however, insist upon owling Draco and Lucy, his wife, and telling them where their son was. Kasey had sworn that his father wouldn't care, but they still told him they'd do it. Just in case.

For the boy's part, he seemed taken by Hermione. He hadn't let her out of his sight at all since dinner, not even when Molly and Arthur agreed to let Hermione stay over, telling her that she may end up sleeping on the floor though with about eighty children surrounding her. She'd laughed and shook her head, saying that that sounded _perfect _at the moment.

She'd gone up to Ginny's old room, where a couple of her things sat in the trunk in the closet, for instances such as this. She pulled a book out and sat on the bed for a little while, hearing the noises from outside telling her that Arthur was engaging some of the children again in a game. She just shook her head and read her book, watching Kasey out of the corner of her eye as he stared at her.

"Don't you want to go play?" She asked the young boy gently, setting down her book and marking her page with her finger.

He shook his head and pointed to the book. "What are you reading?"

She blushed. "Hogwarts, a History." While she didn't read it cover to cover once a week anymore, it was her comfort book that she returned to every time she was upset, thus the reason that her only copy was hidden in a trunk in her runaway house.

Kasey got closer. "Daddy reads that sometimes."

She looked at him for a second, then patted the bed next to her. He eagerly hopped up onto the bed next to her and snuggled close, and she was struck for a second by just how much this boy needed love, something Draco had always seemed troubled with showing. "Does he now? Does he ever let you read it?"

Kasey shook his head. "I'm not supposed to touch his books. I have my own books. They're m-muggly?"

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "I think you mean muggle. All my books were muggle when I was your age."

Kasey looked at her in surprise. "Really? Do you have a muggly parent too?"

Hermione nodded and mussed his hair. "Both of my parents are muggles."

Kasey's eyes widened. "So you grew up in Mommy's world?" He edged closer. "What's it like?"

"Haven't you ever gone into it?"

"No. Grandma and Grandpa always come visit us. Daddy says it's dangerous. Says I have to learn to control my magic and my mouth before I can see the mugglies."

Hermione nodded, remembering the strange things that used to happen when she got angry as a child. She imagined it would be even worse for someone who'd known about magic all of their lives and knew how and what to say. "Well, it's sort of like this world. Except without magic. Do you know what electricity is?"

Kasey shook his head and edged even closer, staring at her intently. "Well, I guess you can say it's muggle magic. But muggles call their magic _science_. But it turns on the lights and the appliances and the television."

"Television!" Kasey exclaimed, looking excited.

"Do you have one of those?" Hermione was surprised. She wasn't sure that Draco would accept his wife's heritage.

"No. But Grandma and Grandpa brought a portable one once for Mommy. They said that while she was in the hosbital she should have something to watch. She's got lugemia."

Hermione gave him a sad smile, inwardly shocked. She hadn't known what Lucy had, but she hadn't envisioned that it would be cancer. "Did the hospital help?"

Kasey nodded, bouncing on the bed. "At first it made her worse. And then she was able to play with me and go places for a long, long time. Then she did a relap."

Hermione closed her eyes, giving the boy a hug that he returned like it was water and he was dehydrating. She held him for a little while, and felt his breathing slow and his body went limp. She set him down on the bed slowly, stroking his forehead and watching his little eyes close. In the seconds before sleep overtook him, he asked. "Do your parents have a television."

"Yes," Hermione said.

"Next time Mommy goes into the Muggly hosbital, I want to visit her. And I'll go see your parents and watch there television, okay?" His voice was slow and sleepy, and Hermione knew he wouldn't even remember saying it in the morning.

"Of course." And then, he was asleep.

Hermione left Kasey to sleep in Ginny's old room and rejoined the chaos downstairs. Molly and Arthur stood in the kitchen, and Hermione could feel that the safety ward had been set up around the house to keep the kids inside and anyone else out.

"Kasey's asleep. Did you owl Draco?"

Molly nodded. "He hasn't responded though. Poor guy's probably busy with his wife, no doubt."

Hermione made a noise of consent. "I didn't realize she had cancer."

Molly, who knew very little of muggle diseases, didn't react. But Arthur looked at her sharply. "She has cancer?"

"Leukemia, Kasey said. Or, well, he said Lugemia. But I figured it was the same thing."

"Kid seems so sweet. Nothing like his father at that age." Molly finished putting the snacks away. "And he seems quite taken with you, Hermione. You may have two proposals on your hands if that little one has his way."

Arthur looked up in surprise. "Snape proposed?" Hermione nodded. "Then what are you doing here? I assumed you guys fought like cats and dogs today, rather than him proposing."

"We did fight. Or, well, we would have if I hadn't activated the portkey."

Molly gestured for Arthur to let it drop, and he obeyed, giving Hermione a last funny look before wrapping his arms around his wife. "Well, you know you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. Merlin knows we could use the help at this point."

Hermione laughed. "With so many children running around, you're lucky the Aurors haven't stormed this place yet."

"Oh, believe me, we sent in an owl to tell them about this little get together. Last time we did something like this, our neighbors thought that we were being attacked."

Hermione looked at her two "parents" in amazement. "How do you do it?"

"What?"

"Love each other after so many years of marriage? Deal with all these children? Have so many memories, both good and bad, and not dwell on them?"

Arthur gave Hermione a wry look. "Practice. And lots of alcohol."

Molly hit him and all three laughed.

The next day started much like the last day had ended: with Kasey right by Hermione's side. She woke up to find his little face looking right at hers, barely an inch away. She jumped, bouncing her head off the floor to keep it from hitting his. "Kasey!" she exclaimed, rolling away from the squatting boy and sitting up.

"Sorry, you were making noises. Did you have a bad dream?"

She shook her head. Her dreams hadn't been bad, and she wasn't sure that she could even classify them as dreams at all. They were more of memories, and she was pretty sure that was her brain's way of thinking over the decision she had been given yesterday.

She patted her wild hair down and sighed as she felt it bounce back up under her fingers.

"Your hair is big," Kasey observed, reaching out to touch one of the bushy sections. He stroked it twice, then let his hand drop. "It's very pretty."

"Thank you, Kasey." Hermione had never been good with compliments, especially not from a six year old. She couldn't help but feel slightly flattered though. Draco was the epitome of good looks, and his wife Lucy wasn't far behind. For the son of two such beautiful people tell her that her hair was pretty, she couldn't look horrible. Or the kid was blind.

"How old are you?" He asked, looking at her shyly from beneath thick, light eyelashes.

"Twenty-nine," she answered, hoping that her age would scare the little boy off a little.

He seemed to be doing a good deal of thinking, then looked up at her, smiling. "Daddy always told me I should go for an older lady."

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think he meant this old."

"That's okay. He doesn't care who I marry."

Hermione rubbed her forehead. So many men were trying to force her into matrimony, weren't they? "Is that your way of saying you're going to marry young man?"

He nodded and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the room. "You're my girlfriend."

Hermione was shocked into silence.

_A/N: There was a little bit of humor there, at least to my sick, twisted mind. Right::sighs:: Maybe I should change the genre to general rather than humor. But I like to think I'm being funny. So it stays, unless I get a bunch of complaints about it._

_5 reviews. _


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